The Secret History of Cybersecurity Awareness Month (And its Not-So-Secret Future)

Have you ever wondered where all those weird holidays come from? Like, who got to decide that April 23^rd was National Talk Like Shakespeare Day? Or that Squirrel Appreciation Day would fall on January 21^st? Or that the last Friday of every April would be National Hairball Awareness Day? An entire day to make sure that your feline friends aren’t spewing wet clumps of hair on to the floor seems like a waste of time, but do you know what isn’t? An entire month dedicated to cybersecurity. Now that’s a topic worthy of a holiday!

Cybersecurity Awareness Month was created by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance in October of 2004. It was launched in an effort to help Americans to be safe in the rapidly growing Internet. In Canada, Get Cyber Safe is leading the Cybersecurity Awareness month activities. Get Cyber Safe is a public awareness campaign led by the Communications Security Establishment, with advice from its Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, to inform Canadians about the simple steps they can take to stay safe online. We are only one of many industry participants who are taking this month to educate our community on the importance of cybersecurity. College campuses, non-profits, and other organizations frequently join in on the fun as well.

This October, we will be participating in Cybersecurity Awareness Month in a big way. For all 31 days of the month, we will be giving you integral tips on how to build up your personal and business cybersecurity. Each one of these tips will bring you new avenues for protecting yourself online and will help you build a fortress of digital protections around yourself. Also, stay tuned for weekly blog posts that will give you even more information on how to stay safe online. Make sure that you’re following us on Facebook so you don’t miss out on any of the cybersecurity goodness we have in October.